> Avalon Pharmaceuticals has ended a stormy relationship with Merck aimed at ID'ing cancer drugs. Avalon gets $4 million for the termination. And Merck gets out of a deal in which it committed up to $200 million in milestones. Report
> Seattle-based ZymoGenetics says that one of its experimental cancer therapies produced positive data in a trial testing its ability to shrink tumors. Report
> Quest Diagnostics says that it has developed the first commercially available test kit to identify patients infected with the new swine flu virus. Story
> AMAG Pharmaceuticals says the FDA has set a new PDUFA date to review its resubmitted NDA for Feraheme, an iron replacement therapy. Release
> We thought Big Pharma was lobbying hard ahead of last year's presidential election. Drugmakers spent millions on their lobbyists, even as they ploughed millions into the campaigns, for the first time splitting their votes fairly evenly between Democrats and Republicans. But even so, pharma's spending on lobbying leapt during the first quarter by 36 percent, to $47.4 million. Report
> Cheerios: A sign of the times? FDA has sent out a warning letter to General Mills, which makes the ubiquitous O-shaped cereal, saying that it might as well be a drug. That's because Cheerios boxes are labeled with claims that it can lower cholesterol. (And advertised that way, too; you know those "give us six weeks" ads.) Report
> With its annual net profit down 34 percent and a strong yen cutting into revenue, Japan's Takeda Pharmaceuticals is under enormous pressure to launch more products and advance new blockbusters. Report
And Finally... The risk of an Asian swine flu outbreak is rising as new cases are being confirmed in China and Thailand. Report